Apparently Dan Wait is Gracie Combative certified, but he is not on the web, there is a post on MA Planet, one of his students replyed to it.
I emailed him about training and he wouldn’t tell me what belt he has and who he got it from.

Hi I'm looking at training BJJ, do you work with the GI all the
time, also could you let me know, who the Instructor is and what
belt he has, and who gave him his belt,

Thank you for any help you can give
Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

Firstly please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to
you; it has been very busy over the last couple of weeks and for that
I apologise.

Revolution Gym has Gracie Combatives Training Centre status and the
lead coach is Dan Wait. Dan is a superb coach and will come highly
recommended by anyone you speak to.

We train on Wednesday nights 6:30pm start, Saturdays 9:30am start and
there is also an open mat session for members on Fridays starting at
5:30pm at the Portland Street Gym. There is a sign above the main
gate now so you won't miss it. Feel free to come along or drop me a
line on 07……………….

We train both with Gi and without, mixing BJJ and MMA Stand-Up during
the sessions.

Would be great to see you down there.

Thanks,
Mat.

Hi Mat,
I have emailed the main Gracie Academy web site just to check, as well as the only club on the site in the UK, the reply from the centre in the UK is below,

there is no mention of Dan wait on the Gracie web site,which looks like it is up to date, seeing as a blue belt was added for the Bradford centre for March 2010 I also checked on the Gracie University web site and Dan wait is listed as a white belt, maybe the site needs up dating,

I think I'm going to keep looking for BJJ in Lincoln/Lincolnshire

Looking forward to a reply
Mike

I'm guessing Mat looks after the web site and is one of Dan's students

At this point There was a email sent to me by mistake from Dan Wait,it should have been sent to Mat, which I will not post as I’m a man of my word, even if I do think Dan is hiding something, in this email he talks about Instructors he repersents or did plus the mention of a purple belt. but the replies from Dan after the mistaken email I will post

Hi Mike,

Please accept our apologies for sending you that last email. It was, of course, a mistake that private email got sent to you. Please respect the privacy & confidential nature of that email.

We would also like to thank you for you original message. Reset assured, we have now removed ALL mention of anyone's good name, as we do not want to cause misunderstanding & upset to anyone.

We wish you well & hope you find what you're looking for. Best wishes for the future.

Kind Regards,

REV MMA

Hi Dan,
Thank you for the email,

I have been involved in Martial Arts for over 20 years, and I understand that politics in the Arts can be a pain in the arse, which I have always stayed out of.

I am looking to add BJJ to my standup arts, and your site came up during my search on the net, you mention in the email about a purple belt, could I ask who you got your belt from?

Thank you again for the reply.

Regards
Mike

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for your message. I appreciate your understanding in the matter. You sound like someone who knows & understands how the MA world unfortunately works sometimes.

I, too, have been involved in MA for a while, since I was 7 years old (I'm now 36!). In that time I have trained with & achieved rank with some of the best coaches on the world. I've been very lucky to have been exposed to a lot of very good people.

If you want to come along & take a look at what we do in the gym, then you are, or course, more than welcome. The first session is completely free with no obligations. I very much hope you will come along if only to take a look.

At that point, I would be more than willing to provide the answer to all your questions. I very much hope you understand my perspective.

Kindest Regards,

Dan

Hi Dan,
sorry for the long email,

I do understand why you would want to stay out of the type politics that martial arts brings with it, but then on the other hand if you are representing and been given permission to teach by some one or a camp, if they charge then surly you shouldn't begrudge paying that fee, even if you think it is expensive, after all their name could in fact be the selling point for people coming to train with you, if we aren't prepared to pay the price then we shouldn't use their name, I think that's fair.

In the email you sent to me by mistake which no one else will see,
you say
"I so badly want to steer clear of giving out 'names' to provide assurance. It's called creditability by association."

Then later in the email you say

"Please don't mention any associations when replying to enquiries. Perhaps it will be best to just mention pedigree, i.e., those who I have personally trained with. That way, nobody could possibly object? Gets difficult, doesn't it!!"

if you get/got permission to teach, lets say from the Gracie's (which you say you have) what does it matter, if you or your students tell others, it's something that you should be proud of, on the other hand telling people who you have trained with doesn't mean anything, could have been a one hour class, doesn't mean you can teach their art. that's what I would call "creditability by association"

I also don't see the problem in letting people know what belt/grade you have and who you got it from by email, would be better if your Instructor grades and Belts were on the web site, it strikes me as being a bit odd that you wouldn't answer my questions about your belt and who you got it from. after all that's what the internet and email addresses are for, plus some times people like myself, have a difficult time asking such a direct question.

I have since emailed another club in Lincoln teaching BJJ and JKD, got a reply by email about his belt/ranking and the groups he represents without any fuss, plus his details are on his web site, I am going to have chat with them next week before I deicide where I'm going to train.

Thank you again for your time.
Regards
Mike

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for the email.

I appreciate your comments & input. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

I very much hope you find what you're looking for & enjoy the training at your chosen club.

Best Wishes,

Dan

Told you it was a long post. hope it reads as it should. by the way I never got a reply from the Gracie web site.
Mickyb